Read All About It

I looked over at my student and she kept dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.

"Are you okay? Are your eyes bothering you?" I asked her.

"It's just so sad that the animals won't be friends with the robot," she replied. Other students looked at her and nodded, murmuring "yeah, it's so sad."

You see, we are reading The Wild Robot by Peter Brown as a whole class read aloud. Yes, I teach Kindergarten. Yes, it is has vocabulary that is difficult for my little people. Best of all...Yes, my students are engaged in the story--making predictions and inferences, learning new vocabulary (ask my kiddos what "peculiar" means!) and having discussions while we read.

My Inspiration
I was inspired to dig into chapter books as I listened to the titles of the bedtime stories my friends were reading to their young children. Then I started reading the Harry Potter series with my boyfriend's son (stepson to be in a month and a half!) when he was in first grade and watched him get lost in the series. I was inspired, I was going to reach and put these chapter book stories in the imaginations and hearts of my little people.

My stepson-to-be at his Harry Potter themed birthday, inspired by our read alouds together.

While teaching first grade, I was reading Little House in the Big Woods and watching as my suburban kids engaged with life in the woods (something they knew little about!). I introduced them to other favorites and the love of reading echoed through the room.

When I moved down to Kindergarten, I wondered if I could continue this practice of chapter books. Selfishly, this read aloud time was my favorite part of the teaching day. Watching my students engage and love the time they spent listening to stories.

And...it worked! 

Here are some tips for how I get chapter books going in my Kindergarten room:

Start simple.
The first books I read from are from the Junie B Jones series. Junie B is sassy and loud and my students giggle as I bring her to life by moving, stomping and yelling in the room (some telling me to be quiet!).  My favorite book in the series to start with is Junie B. and the Sneaky Peaky Spying, my students always seem to relate to Junie B wanting to know where her teacher lives!

Once we've dug into Junie B, I introduce books like Magic Tree House and The Secrets of Droon.  The students get used to the patterns and the characters...and they learn the excitement of a cliffhanger.

Start short.
In the beginning, we only read a page or two of the book, a total of maybe five minutes. I monitor my kiddos and watch for interest (or disinterest!). Are they bored? I stop reading. Is this book not working? I switch it up! Eventually, my students start to bang on the desk yelling "read more!" or ask to hear more of the story at snack time.

Start with lots of stops.
We stop a lot! Some of my kids already reading at higher levels get frustrated with the interruptions but we stop and talk about what's happening, talk about the words, draw out pictures on the board or I act it out with my body. This is the meat of our read alouds, the comprehension checks and the important connection making parts of reading a book.

Just Jump In
One of my favorite things as an educator is the ability to introduce kids to a love of reading, to know that I might hook them into the one series that sparks the fire for reading. While my little people are driving on many different parts of the reading road, we all jump in the car every day after lunch recess and take a literary spin into new words with some of our favorite characters.

I encourage you to give it a try, maybe it's a short, quick test drive or maybe it's a long road trip ahead. On Friday, as we read a digital picture book one of my students yelled out, "that dragon has empathy! Just like in the Wild Robot." My heart smiled, the connections and the love of reading are the rewards of experimenting with chapter books in my classroom full of readers who are just getting started.

Family Ties

“You don’t care about my kid,” the words hit me like I imagine a punch to the stomach would.  She was so angry at me and there was nothing I could do to fix it in that moment.

Most of us go into teaching because we love kids.  We like their families and we know we see one of the most important people in their lives every day.  However, It’s easy to get lost in negative thoughts towards the families we work with, assumptions about who they are and what they value.

Here are some tenants that I keep close to my heart when interacting with families in the classroom to keep from sliding into the negative zone.

Assume positive intent.

Oftentimes families come from different backgrounds than me, my values are not their values.  At the core of everything I have to believe that each family member wants the very best for their child and it might look different from what I think is “very best.”  A family member missed the our conference? I need to give them the benefit of the doubt and ground myself in the idea that there was a reason they missed it--it was a good enough reason.  I have to remember that it isn’t an insult to me, it isn’t disrespect and it doesn’t mean that they don’t care. Many families are facing homelessness, addiction and mental health issues. Many families don’t have the resources to combat these overwhelming problems.  We have students that struggle and their family is also struggling--that struggle may come out in unpleasant ways. Do I go into interactions with families keeping their struggles in my heart or do I judge them for what I think isn’t very best?

Remember family members are human and can have strong feelings.

Being yelled at by a family member isn’t fun.  It’s important to remember that an upset family member is having a strong reaction to something that happened to their child and just like with our students, you have the power to escalate the situation or to figuratively wrap around the family member to help them cope with whatever is going on.  You might not be able to solve it or fix it. You can always give them space to be heard. Some of the families we work with are marginalized and have to yell because they feel that no one ever listens to them, especially in a school system that may have never listened to them as a child. What do you do when a student yells “I hate you” at you?  We are not just in the business of helping our students, we are in the business of helping the families we serve. What tools can we give them to help and not push them away?

Consider what you call your families.

In a few months, I will officially be a stepmom.  When I come to school events, M’s classroom teacher will call me mom.  M will look at me, shake his head and tell his teacher that I’m not his mom (which I’m not).  Every time that tiny interaction makes me feel like I have less of a role in M’s life than I know I do.  I encourage you to toss out the traditional word “parent” and start to use the word “family” or “family member.”  It is inclusive and sends the message to the families you work with that any person taking care of the child belongs and they have an important role in the life of the student--no matter what they technically are. An added bonus: you send the message that you accept them into your teaching family, you view them as a part of your school-family life.

Are we helping our families climb the tricky trees of life or are we judging how they climb?

I never fixed my interaction with the family member who was angry at me and the student moved to a different school the next year.  The interaction, 5 years later, still weighs heavy on my heart and greatly impacts the work I strive to do with my families. I’m not perfect, I still find myself sitting in frustration over a missed meeting (or the 2nd or 3rd missed meeting).  However, when I keep positive intent, family members needing to be heard and the labels I use, I can let my own feelings go and move forward in advocating for and supporting my students and their families.

How do you stay positive as an advocate with your families (even when conversations with get tough)? Shoot me a reply on twitter (@msyoung114).